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Emanuelle in America
DVD/APPROX. 100 MINS/1976/ITALY UNRATED
DVD/APPROX. 100 MINS/1976/ITALY UNRATED
And now a film that defies it's origins as a fleapit porno flick and is in fact one of the most peculiar films ever committed to celluloid.
Emanuelle in America.
Note the spelling: official Emmanuelle product starring Sylvia Krystal had two M's in the title. The series was so popular globally that quick-buck Z-
grade filmmakers on every continent cashed in on the craze, throwing out dozens of cheap imitations that took the character off in many weird
directions.
One of these 'artistes' was Italian journeyman director Joe D'Amato, a purveyor of B-movies, spaghetti westerns, porn and horror flicks. He liked to
mix the styles up a bit, so his porn contained bizarre and jolting violence and the horror was cut with hardcore sex footage.
This raises a few questions about who the audience is for a picture such as this. His fans now seek his movies out because of this bizarre
combination of elements, the mixture of curious ‘70s porn motifs (wicky-wacky funk music, far out clothes, ludicrous dialogue, kinky, silly, laughable
sex scenes) with extreme gore (check out his Erotic Nights of the Living Dead for further freaked out horror fun) and skilled camera work.
For people who watch this stuff for other things apart from the sex, the latter reason is what makes the viewing bearable. Most people have
watched some rude stuff in their lives, but the modern porn industry doesn't cater to filmmakers. The Burt Reynolds character in Boogie Nights is,
in this respect, probably an accurate reflection of a lot of filmmakers in that period, striving for acceptance while churning out tawdry skin movies!
The movie in question is one of Joe's "Black Emanuelle" flicks and features Laura Gemser as the photographer on a mission to record the sexual
exploits of the USA. This is an adequate framing device to link a series of episodes together into a film that could play in sleazy theatres for the
raincoat brigade and fulfill the requirements. So we have some soft-core swimming pool lesbian business, nude photo sessions, implied horse sex
(?) and various orgy scenarios.
Inter cut within this are the odd hardcore shot which flies out of left field, making it less a sexy movie and more of a shock ride. As I said earlier,
D'Amato liked to mix his styles, so when Emanuelle hooks up with an older gent with a Super-8 film projector, the director takes a serious left turn
into nastiness. The film guy first shows her some gay scenes (again this kind of bizarre porn filmmaking choice was surely going to put the target
audience off it's stroke so to speak) and then what I can only describe as some of the most horrific gore stuff I have ever seen!
He shows her some (faked!) snuff footage. What was the director thinking? I got the impression that he must hold the sex film crowd in contempt
and wanted to jolt them out of their seats and back home to their wives. The horror is audacious in its sheer sadism; I can't really compare the
intensity of it to anything else but 'Cannibal Holocaust'. After this the film hasn't got anywhere else to go and finishes on a strange jokey scene
with some stereotypical island tribesman for some unfathomable reason.
This is a truly bizarre concoction and despite the sordidness on display, but I think it at least deserves a mention as a unique piece of filmmaking,
despite it's totally exploitative stance.
Emanuelle in America.
Note the spelling: official Emmanuelle product starring Sylvia Krystal had two M's in the title. The series was so popular globally that quick-buck Z-
grade filmmakers on every continent cashed in on the craze, throwing out dozens of cheap imitations that took the character off in many weird
directions.
One of these 'artistes' was Italian journeyman director Joe D'Amato, a purveyor of B-movies, spaghetti westerns, porn and horror flicks. He liked to
mix the styles up a bit, so his porn contained bizarre and jolting violence and the horror was cut with hardcore sex footage.
This raises a few questions about who the audience is for a picture such as this. His fans now seek his movies out because of this bizarre
combination of elements, the mixture of curious ‘70s porn motifs (wicky-wacky funk music, far out clothes, ludicrous dialogue, kinky, silly, laughable
sex scenes) with extreme gore (check out his Erotic Nights of the Living Dead for further freaked out horror fun) and skilled camera work.
For people who watch this stuff for other things apart from the sex, the latter reason is what makes the viewing bearable. Most people have
watched some rude stuff in their lives, but the modern porn industry doesn't cater to filmmakers. The Burt Reynolds character in Boogie Nights is,
in this respect, probably an accurate reflection of a lot of filmmakers in that period, striving for acceptance while churning out tawdry skin movies!
The movie in question is one of Joe's "Black Emanuelle" flicks and features Laura Gemser as the photographer on a mission to record the sexual
exploits of the USA. This is an adequate framing device to link a series of episodes together into a film that could play in sleazy theatres for the
raincoat brigade and fulfill the requirements. So we have some soft-core swimming pool lesbian business, nude photo sessions, implied horse sex
(?) and various orgy scenarios.
Inter cut within this are the odd hardcore shot which flies out of left field, making it less a sexy movie and more of a shock ride. As I said earlier,
D'Amato liked to mix his styles, so when Emanuelle hooks up with an older gent with a Super-8 film projector, the director takes a serious left turn
into nastiness. The film guy first shows her some gay scenes (again this kind of bizarre porn filmmaking choice was surely going to put the target
audience off it's stroke so to speak) and then what I can only describe as some of the most horrific gore stuff I have ever seen!
He shows her some (faked!) snuff footage. What was the director thinking? I got the impression that he must hold the sex film crowd in contempt
and wanted to jolt them out of their seats and back home to their wives. The horror is audacious in its sheer sadism; I can't really compare the
intensity of it to anything else but 'Cannibal Holocaust'. After this the film hasn't got anywhere else to go and finishes on a strange jokey scene
with some stereotypical island tribesman for some unfathomable reason.
This is a truly bizarre concoction and despite the sordidness on display, but I think it at least deserves a mention as a unique piece of filmmaking,
despite it's totally exploitative stance.
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